Parliamentary taxation essay

Before the formation of IPSA, MPs were able to determine their own salaries and expenses. After the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal , this role was taken from politicians and given to IPSA. In July 2015, IPSA announced that MPs' salaries would be increased from £67,000 to £74,000. They stated this "one-off adjustment" was needed to correct disparities between MPs and the rest of the public sector in terms of pay and pensions which they felt was the result of successive governments' reluctance to tackle the contentious issue. IPSA also commented that further pay rises would be linked to the average earnings in the public sector. [3] Prime Minister David Cameron supported the move as it "paid the rate of the job". The 10% pay rise was controversial as the rest of the public sector pay had been capped at 1% per year. [4] When IPSA had previously proposed the pay rise to £74,000 in 2013, Cameron had condemned the proposal as "simply unacceptable", when the rest of public sector pay had been capped for the duration of the parliament. [5] Some MPs stated that they would not accept the pay rise but instead transfer it to charities. [6] IPSA announced further pay rises of % and % to MPs' salaries in line with average earnings within the public sector as determined by the Office for National Statistics in 2016 and 2017 respectively. [7] [8]